USA, Hawaii: Senate Advances Marriage Equality Bill

The state Senate advanced a bill to legalize gay marriage during a special session Tuesday, sending it to a final floor vote that would get the legislation to the House. The final Senate vote is planned during a session that starts Wednesday morning. The bill is expected to pass there easily, then travel to the House where its prospects are less certain. The Senate’s brief floor session Tuesday was far different than a committee hearing Monday that lasted nearly 12 hours with nearly 4,000 pages of written testimony and about 400 people testifying in person. The bill passed its second reading with no amendments and no attempts to try to block it from moving forward.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie told Al Jazeera Monday that he expects Hawaii’s legislature will pass a bill legalizing gay marriage “within a week or so,” in a state that just two decades ago prompted an international dialogue on marriage equality. The Democrat was interviewed after a special session of his state legislature in Honolulu, which he called to debate the passage of state Senate Bill 1.

If successful, same sex couples may be able to marry as soon as 11/18.